Natori District, Miyagi

(List of provinces of Japan > Tōsandō > Rikuzen Province > Natori District)

Natori District (名取郡, Natori-gun^?) was a district located in Rikuzen Province (formerly in the central part of Mutsu Province) → Miyagi Prefecture.

Many kofuns had been built in the area of the future Natori district since the 5th century. Especially Raijinyama Kofun was the largest in the Tōhoku region of Honshu.

The district was founded in the 7th century. Kōriyama Site had been the capital of Mutsu province since the end of the 7th century until 724.

Natori Dan (Natori Battalion) had been long maintained as one of two, six or seven battalions of the province.

Heijō-kyō excavation team discovered a wood tag attaching kombu (sea grass) tribute in 729 from "Natori district of Mutsu province" to the palace. And although date and year are unknown, a word Notori was written on a cup excavated at the Kōriyama Site. The first appearance in reliable literature is in Shoku Nihongi when Kimikobe Okina, a person of Natori District, was permitted to change his family name (kabane) in 769.

Northern border with Miyagi District changed several times. Originally Natori River and its branch Hirose River were the border of their east side. Sendai Domain fixed the district borders in the end of the 16th century or the beginning of the 17th century. Then the boundary around Sendai are changed to Tatsunokuchi River, where is a small branch of the Hirose. This arrangement gave the Sendai Castle to the Miyagi district. Natori district was divided to 61 villages. The Nagamachi office (Nagamachi daikansho) administrated 31 villages of Northern (Kitakata, 北方) Natori and the Masuda office did 30 villages of Southern (Minamikata, 南方) Natori.

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